Judge awards $70M to attorneys in $1B Surfside condo collapse settlement
A Miami-Dade judge has awarded more than $70 million to the more than 130 attorneys and staff who aided in class-action litigation related to the Surfside condominium collapse.
This represents the attorneys’ share of the more than $1 billion class action settlement that was reached earlier this year following the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium building in 2021, which killed 98 people.
More than 130 attorneys and staff worked more than 34,000 billable hours to reach the settlement.
Attorneys had requested roughly $100 million, however, Miami-Dade Judge Michael Hantzman approved the lesser proportion, making up about 7.5 percent of the total award.
The request represented a discount of as much as $200 million compared to typical class-action suits.
Some families balked at that original request, as the attorneys’ fees come out of the settlement amount.
